Appearances

The Legend of Zelda

While not referred to as a Great Fairy and are in the appearance of a normal Fairy, there are a few areas in the Hyrule overworld where a pond housing a fairy can be found. These specific fairies have the same role as later Great Fairies: they will only appear if Link approaches their pond with injury and will instantly recover all of his hearts. As such, these fairies are probably what inspired the Great Fairies in later Zelda titles.

A Link to the Past

Common Great Fairies

These Great Fairies are the most common ones out of all the Great Fairies in A Link to the Past, and as such, they can easily be found scattered throughout Hyrule in either caves or holes. When Link approaches her, she will completely heal the young hero's wounds.

Waterfall of Wishing Fairy

At the Waterfall of Wishing near Zora's Lake lives a Great Fairy who is known to be a friend of Venus.[2] She looks identical to Venus with the exception of her wings, which are smaller and greener. The Fairy at the Waterfall of Wishing appears as Link throws various items into the Mysterious Pond and asks him whether or not he dropped them. She will return items dropped by the young hero, but if he drops certain items, she will instead give him better items or upgrades of the item in return if Link answers the questions honestly. These include the Boomerang, which she upgrades to the Magical Boomerang, the blue Level-1 Fighter's Shield, which she upgrades to the Red Shield, and an empty Magic Bottle, which she fills with Medicine of Magic.

Link's Awakening

In Link's Awakening, Great Fairies are in the form of large fairies with bug-like wings and have black hair tied in a ponytail. They are scattered throughout certain areas of Koholint Island, usually in a cave that houses a small pond and two fairy statues. If Link arrives wounded they will appear and recover all of his hearts. Not all Great Fairies in Link's Awakening live in a cave, for one of them lives in a small pond of the Mysterious Woods. There is also the Fairy Queen who only makes an appearance in Link's Awakening DX, and resides in the last room of the Color Dungeon, a dungeon exclusive to Link's Awakening DX. As thanks for visiting her, she rewards Link with the 'power of color', a choice between the red tunic, which increases the power of weapons, or the blue tunic, which increases Link's defense. Link can visit the Fairy Queen again to swap between the two tunics, but he can never get back his green tunic once he has swapped it for another tunic.

Ocarina of Time

A Great Fairy as it appears in Ocarina of Time

In Ocarina of Time, the Great Fairies are depicted as giant women who wear ivy vines as clothes and leather boots, and have red hair that is tied into three pigtails. This also marks the first time that Great Fairies are seen without wings. Their locations are scattered throughout Hyrule, where they live in certain Great Fairy Fountains that has the Triforce symbol engraved on the floor in front of their pond. By playing Zelda's Lullaby on this symbol, they will be summoned. Great Fairies, when first summoned, will bless Link with either a new item or an upgrade. The color of their fountain's walls will also vary from either blue or red to signify what kind of blessing they will give. The Great Fairies who give out Din's Fire, Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind will have red walls. The Great Fairies who simply upgrade Link's powers will have blue walls instead.

The Great Fairies can also be summoned again at their fountains to recover Link's health as well as his Magic Power. All three of the Great Fairies who give out Din's Fire, Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind refer to themselves as the Great Fairy of Magic,[4] and possibly may be the same Great Fairy. The Great Fairies who bless Link with a magical sword spin attack, a larger Magic Meter, and a defense upgrade are referred to as the Great Fairy of Power,[5] the Great Fairy of Wisdom,[6] and the Great Fairy of Courage, respectively.[7]

Locations and Rewards

The locations of the Great Fairies as well as the upgrades received in Ocarina of Time are as follows:

Ocarina of Time Beta model

During the development of Ocarina of Time, the Great Fairies were not the same ones that appeared in the final version of the game, for they had more of a crystal appearance with long, white wings. Their crystalline appearance is similar to the appearance of the Great Fairies from The Wind Waker. The Beta Great Fairy, surprisingly, shares the same model file as the in-game Great Fairy. Originally uploaded first by Cooliscool, the model was later on restored correctly by Zeth.

Majora's Mask

The Great Fairy of Magic in Majora's Mask

The Great Fairies in Majora's Mask have the same in-game model as the ones from Ocarina of Time, with each one of them having a different colored hair and shaped eyebrow. This five Great Fairies have been torn apart into 15 Stray Fairies by the evil power of Majora's Mask. The only Great Fairy that needs to be recovered in order to progress in the game is the one in North Clock Town, which grants Link the ability to use magic, and only one Stray Fairy has to be found for her. For the other four Great Fairies, Link must recover the remaining 15 Stray Fairies scattered around each dungeon found in the four cardinal directions of Termina in order to be rewarded with upgrades and a special weapon.

Oddly, when Link first returns the Stray Fairies to the Great Fairy found by the Snowhead Temple, she tells him she is the Great Fairy of Wisdom, but when he visits her later with all the Stray Fairies after going back to the First Day, she tells him she is the Great Fairy of Courage. Likewise the Great Fairy found near the Great Bay Coast first tells Link she is the Great Fairy of Courage and then the Great Fairy of Wisdom. In the Japanese and European versions of Majora's Mask, the Great Fairy of Snowhead is the Great Fairy of Wisdom and the Great Fairy of the Great Bay is the Great Fairy of Courage.

Locations and Rewards

The locations of the Great Fairies as well as the upgrades received in Majora's Mask are as follows:

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons

Many Great Fairies appear throughout the Oracle games to heal Link at their fountains, and in Oracle of Ages, two of them participate in password secrets.

In Oracle of Ages, the yellow, pink, and blue Stray Fairies of the Fairies' Woods at first jumble up the topography of the forest and force Link to play a supernatural game of Hide and Seek to be granted access to the Wing Dungeon.[12] Later near the Zora Seas, Link encounters the Fairy Queen, guardian of the seas, who was cursed by Veran into an Octorok-shape so that the evil sorceress could poison the seas and kill the Zora without the Fairy Queen's interference.[13] She asks Link to find the Fairy Powder hidden in the nearby Library to heal her,[14] and once he does, she removes all of the pollution from the Zora Sea, returning the sea to its natural beauty and restoring health to King Zora and Lord Jabu-Jabu.[15][16][17]

Four Swords

In Four Swords, there are three Great Fairies in total: the Great Fairy of Forest (green colored), the Great Fairy of Ice (blue colored), and the Great Fairy of Flame (yellow colored).[18] After Link defeats each boss, a Great Fairy will speak to him, and if his performance during the dungeon was well enough, she will give him one of the Great Keys.[19][20] The Great Keys bestowed by the Great Fairies are required to complete the final mission of the game as well as to unlock special bonus content in A Link to the Past. Each of the Great Fairies greatly resemble in appearances the Great Fairies of The Minish Cap, and like them, they first appear in the form of a ball of light fairy before taking a human fairy form. In Four Swords Anniversary Edition, if all the players have acquired the Hero's Keys and completed the game, the Great Fairies' appearances will change to those similar to the ones seen in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

The Wind Waker

There are seven Great Fairies in The Wind Waker, five of which have their fountain under a giant shell. One of them must be rescued from inside a Big Octo at the Two-Eye Reef.[21] Another one, the Fortune Goddess,[22] lives in the Forest of Fairies above Link's home and gives Link a larger Wallet.
The upgrades received, along with the names of the islands in which the Great Fairies are located, are as follows:

Western Fairy Island – The Skull Hammer must be used to hit the nearby stake and remove the fire blocking the entrance.

Thorned Fairy Island – The Skull Hammer must be used to hit the three nearby stakes and remove the thorns blocking the entrance.

After Link has received the upgrades or power-ups from its respective Fairy Fountain, the Great Fairy will no longer be at the fountain. Instead, fairies will be floating over the pond, ready to heal the young hero or be put in an empty bottle.

Birthplace: Angular Isles.Talent: Powering-up.The seven Great Fairies who are destined to aid the Great Hero by increasing his powers are hiding in seven different reaches of the Great Sea.

Four Swords Adventures

In Four Swords Adventures, Link can encounter a Great Fairy while inside certain dungeons or caves. If Link throws in a certain item into the pond below the Great Fairy, she will upgrade it to a Level 2 item. For example, throwing in the Slingshot will allow Link to shoot seeds from three different directions at the same time. Encountering these Great Fairies is crucial in order to solve various puzzles of the game. The Queen of Fairies also appears in Four Swords Adventures, during the Hyrule Castle level. The Great Fairies in Four Swords Adventures have the same appearance as the ones from The Wind Waker.

The Minish Cap

There are three Great Fairies hidden throughout the land of The Minish Cap, all of which give Link special upgrades as well as heal his wounds. The three Great Fairies featured in this game are the Great Butterfly Fairy, the Great Dragonfly Fairy and the Great Mayfly Fairy. In each case, they possess wings resembling those of the insect from which they take their names. Each of the Great Fairies greatly resemble the appearances of the Great Fairies in Four Swords.

Great Butterfly Fairy: the first fairy, found in the northern section of the Minish Woods. She mentions she is in need of Rupees and asks Link for all of his. If he agrees, she tells Link that she doesn't really need any rupees and rewards Link's generosity with a bigger wallet.[23]

Great Mayfly Fairy: the second fairy, found on Mount Crenel. If Link throws a bomb into her fountain, she will ask him if he threw a gold or silver one. If Link gives an honest answer, she rewards him with a bigger Bomb Bag.[24]

Great Dragonfly Fairy: the final fairy, found in the Royal Valley. She asks Link to tell her of his adventures, and asks a series of questions regarding several key details of his journey. If Link answers all of her questions correctly, she will reward him with a bigger quiver.[25]

The Great Dragonfly Fairy of Royal Valley. She gives you a larger quiver, allowing you to carry more arrows with you.

Twilight Princess

Welcome, Hero, to the Cave of Ordeals. I am the Great Fairy. I reign over all fairies of this realm as their queen.

— Great Fairy

A Great Fairy as seen in Twilight Princess

Unlike previous Zelda games in which the Great Fairies can be found in different caves throughout the overworld, the only Great Fairy of Twilight Princess appears within the Cave of Ordeals in a fountain every ten floors. Each time Link reaches a new fountain, the Great Fairy will send pink healing fairies to the Spirit Springs across Hyrule.[26] The first time Link reaches the fountain of the 50th floor, the Great Fairy will reward him by filling one of the young hero's empty bottles with Great Fairy's Tears.[27] She will also tell him that he can get more Tears by going to any of the Light Spirit's Springs, although Link will only be able to have one bottle filled with Great Fairy Tears at any given time.[28] However, should he complete the Cave of Ordeals again, he will be able to fill another bottle with the Tears, allowing him to have more than one.[citation needed] The Great Fairy can also warp Link out of the Cave of Ordeals if he asks her to.

The appearance of the Great Fairy in Twilight Princess looks younger than the ones seen in previous games. It may also be noted that this Great Fairy happens to be topless, with only her hair covering her body.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

A mystical being. From Outset Island to Fairy Island to areas all throughout the world, there are many fairy springs. Great Fairies are powerful fairies residing at springs called Great Fairy Fountains. These powerful fairies often reward Link with Rupees, arrows, and bombs. The ones in The Wind Waker look very different from the ones in Ocarina of Time.